In 2004, 100 citizens lived in Ørestaden of Amager. Today, almost 26,000 live in Ørestad Parish alone, Politiken reports.
Just over half of all residents in Ørestad Parish are internationals, almost equally divided between Western and non-Western immigrants and descendants.
“There are some who call Ørestad little New York,” says Susanne Billesø, who has been a teacher at Ørestad School for 11 years, to Politiken.
At Ørestad School, there are 750 children with 65 nationalities – from the Nordic countries, almost all European countries, the US, Korea, China, India, Iran, African countries, yes, states that the school management has to look up on a world map to get it placed when new children are enrolled.
The average grade at Ørestad School is higher after the 9th grade graduation exam than at other Copenhagen schools on average. And more people get a secondary education than the average in both the municipality and the rest of the country.
What most international children have in common is that the vast majority of their parents are educated, many are well-educated, and have come here as sought-after specialists or skilled workers who help Mærsk, Novo Nordisk, Nordea or other large pharmaceutical, IT or financial companies, many of which have their domiciles in Ørestad.
Household income is also higher in Ørestad than in the rest of the Municipality of Copenhagen.
“Many intrnational children are really talented. And their parents often invest significantly more in their children’s learning, they are ambitious, they want something for them. Some Danish parents could learn a little from that,” says Susanne Billesø.
